Shonisani Netshia lectures in painting in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Johannesburg. She is currently registered for her PhD in Art & Design. In her most of her works she uses Isishweshwe fabric as a visual references in the production of large to small scale paintings. In these, she explores how, through painterly alteration and transformation, shifts can occur in the meanings of patterns derived from these culturally-loaded sources. In her recent works she negotiates her role as a homemaker, nurturer, working mom, and wife by drawing from a selection of 'culturally-loaded' objects from her mother's home. These objects symbolise and carry with them a sense of nostalgia from a specific era in her mother's life, and hers. Through the use of paint as a medium, she explores and grapples with the reality of her role as a woman and mother, as well as how this role is shifting when compared to her mother's role.
Shonisani's contribution to the galleries section of this website